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The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.